RelicNews Forums - (memories .....) What's the best game you have ever played?

ZeroTwo

21st Feb 08, 6:50 AM

That's a hard question to answer...

I sabotage myself by immediately thinking: "The best game I ever played for gameplay quality, or the most fun game I've ever played?"

Gameplay quality leaves only choices within the last five years, Homeworld, Company of Heroes, Bioshock, World of Warcraft, etc. (Yeah I put WoW in quality)

Most fun games I've ever played are things like X-Wing, Sonic 3: Sonic and Knuckles, Everquest, Aces over Europe...

However I think my idea of "best games" may be horrendously skewed because my perception of what was "the best" was when I was 14 is vastly different compared to what it is now... I remember games that were very fun, but, I might be confusing fun with "time wasted" or "the ability for the game to hold my attention for hours on end."

He mulls it over with much beard-stroking consideration.

I think my safest answer, for the best game I ever played was probably highschool. That was a fun game, it was an easy game, it had hot girls, sports action, fights, drugs, it had drama from the gritty and horrific to the flighty and melodramatic. Highschool was the best game ever.

archaon376

21st Feb 08, 7:15 AM

My two favorite oldies would have to be X-Com and Masters of Magic.

It's a shame people don't release quality games like those anymore.

philgreg

21st Feb 08, 7:24 AM

warzone 2100 - unique way of designing your own vehicles based on technolgies you had recovered, good storyline, and lengthy single player. All for £20 on the PS1. It's freeware now, downloadable for PC.

sang

21st Feb 08, 7:31 AM

The best game i have played. Has to be star wars knights of the old republic. Thats one hell of an RPG. However the force unleashed is out soon so that may top it.

Lomax

21st Feb 08, 7:55 AM

Too many good games...can....not....decide...

Football, Chess, XCOM, SNES Zelda, Call of Cthulhu P&P RPG...

EDIT: OMG I FORGETTED SHADOWRUN, JUNTA, ARKHAM HORROR, FALLOUT, FREESPACE, WORMS, THAT DRINKING GAME WHERE SAYING CERTAIN STUFF IS PROHIBITED...

:crazy:

Sethero

21st Feb 08, 8:09 AM

In the computer realm, it's close, but Operation Flashpoint trumps Fallout and Rise of Nations. OFP forced me to learn some coding, allowed me to be the soldier in the middle of a cold war engagement, let me create my own scenarios and play them with friends, drive tanks, fly planes, kill millions of communists, all with a realistic tilt and (for the time) good graphics and a free-to-wander game world that was enormous.

On the table, SLA Industries edges Shadowrun. All about the storyline.

In the arcade, Battletech simulators.

Tiberius Nero

21st Feb 08, 8:11 AM

RPG wise it has to be Arcanum, I just loved how open ended this game was.

Strategy wise, probably I would say Civilization 2 simply because I played the game for years, but tbh I wouldn't touch it again today. My favorite strategy games for a while have been Hearts of Iron II and EUII, endless potential campaigns there, especially in EUII; I am actually detoxing from those two, I haven't touched them in months, for fear of relapse into full time gaming.

DesertHawk

21st Feb 08, 8:19 AM

The greatest game that I've ever played? I'll have to cheat a little and say Doom and Doom 2 (Doom 2 is more like Doom with more levels and a few xtra bits). Oh, and Final Doom...,damnit, I'll rephrase and say "Everything Doom up till IDs idea of a funny joke, Doom III."

My Reasons:
-It's the only game I have the I can honestly say that I never get bored of. I'll play through the games every few months or so.
-Simplistic, plays with great ease, and good flow of gameplay.
-Difficult, never frustrating
-great range of weaponry
-Fighting hordes of beasties appeals to me.
-Tons of Levels (if you count all of the games) with, for the most part, good design.
-Some may say the graphics are garbage by todays standards (They are if you wish to be technical about it), but I say that the 2d style fits, it's different, and in a way won't age.

Oh, and if I may...I know...still breaking the rules a bit. I'd like to throw a little mention to Wolfenstien 3d/Spear of Destiney also. (kinda the same thing =P)

puddy79

21st Feb 08, 8:22 AM

Fallout. I love the gritty adult themes and situations. I must have played that game to completion 15 times. Most recently was probably a year ago. I even had it loaded on my work computer for a couple of months. Blowing apart Super Mutants and scumbags from the wasteland never gets old. Man, I hope Fallout 3 delivers.

Zir

21st Feb 08, 11:05 AM

Final Fantasy 9, or 8, followed by 7. I'm no FF fan boy, and haven't really played any of the newer ones or been that engaged with the ones I just mentioned since, but when I first played them I was so utterly enthralled. There weren't arbitrary portions of humour and seriousness, it all just meshed perfectly into a vivid and beautiful world. I've never liked any other J-RPG that I can think of.

Worf

21st Feb 08, 11:44 AM

Heh, give me a question that is more difficult to answer...

I could name you games that I hated and deeply regretted that I spent money on them.

For the best game ever I'd most likey have to go with Planescape Torment. Surely one of the best ever done. Or maybe X-Com the original. Call of Duty 4 was excellent as well. One of the most intense games ever. Nothing matches Deus Ex in variety and storytelling. Maybe except System Shock 2.

...

I really can't say.

Shoota Fodder

21st Feb 08, 12:19 PM

Medal of Honor 1 and MoH Underground for the PS1. I re-payed this a few months ago and i still love it so much (brings back so many memories :)).

Wintermute

21st Feb 08, 12:30 PM

This is a really easy question
/off sarcasm

Really, I don't know. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a "favorite game of all time." I have favorite games, but singular?

Uhm...

Whatever. When in doubt, the answer is always: Homeworld. Or 42.

Honorable mentions:
FFX (Not x-2)
SoaSE (even though I just started playing it)
Halo
CoH + DoW
and a number of other games...ugh...too many.

whats_true

21st Feb 08, 12:47 PM

Grand Tourismo Series and Driver series.

I learned how to drive AND how to our run the cops. Spent many, many hours on both.

LilRommel

21st Feb 08, 12:56 PM

Dragons Lair

Dirk the Daring is my hero.

http://www.gameasylum.com/Images/museum/1983/dragonslair/Dirk-the-daring.jpg

Edit: Also Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. If it wasnt for these games who know where id be today.

HunterX

21st Feb 08, 1:59 PM

For favorite console game, I'd have to go for Earthbound on the SNES. It's that rare, perfect mix of quirky Japanese humor they managed to translate for the English speaking audience without loosing anything in the translation, storyline, and difficulty level.

For favorite early computer game, namely the C64, my favorite game has to be a game called Action Biker. You rode a motorcycle around a perpetually repeating map collecting items leading up to a time trial drag race for bonus points. Only once have I ever managed to beat that game.

For favorite arcade game, Centipede. I could play that game for over an hour or more on just a couple of bucks. Never racked up the high score on any machine I've ever played, but I always scored in the top ten, and got to second place on one machine at some random arcade down at Coney Island.

For PC, I can't decide what game would be my favorite.

Guilliman

21st Feb 08, 2:18 PM

Duke Nukem 3D!

Simply, it's the very first 3d game I ever played (pretty much the first real computer game as well). It just never goes away. Even games now can be 1000x better then what the duke used to be, I'll never forget him, nor his babes!

I still have the game laying around, + a Bonus CD with over 1000 (fan made?) Maps/missions and remoddeled Machine gun (mp5 model!). Best ever! I should frame that CD tbh, I might just do that.

cf_nz

21st Feb 08, 2:20 PM

Civilization. More the series than any one version.

SeniorDingDong

21st Feb 08, 2:28 PM

Damn, thats a hard question. Would be easier if I split it up a litte :

Portable : No way, thats "Zelda : Links Akakening". I think its the best 2D Zelda ever , that says alot. It controlls are better then ALttP, the gameplay "flow" is perfect, it has its own orginal story and pure Zelda gameplay without bitching about an specific feature like "ololol link can now change teh weatha". I did play this game so hard, my eyes became more then red, I was close to damage them hard, seriously.

Oldschool : A close race between Kirby´s Adventure and Super Mario Bros. 3. Kirby is technicly superior, has more variety in his gameplay, funny minigames and a battery saving system. Mario doesnt look that impressive like Kirby did on the NES, but his core gamplay is much better, and its not that piss easy like Kirby. They share place 1.

Modern Day : Metroid Prime. Thats the reason, why I bought a damn Gamecube. This game, made the perfect 2D to 3D leap. Visuals, music, design, gameplay, controlls, content, worlds, enemies, bossfights, combat, explore ... it has the whole package of epic-game-greatness like Super Metroid had before.

Troubleshooter

21st Feb 08, 2:38 PM

Minesweeper

Or as a really close second... I'd go with BlasterMaster from SNES days.

Yeah, theres been many more high quality and "deep" games since then, but whats the point of picking favorites for the sake of a "damn I am old" thread. Lots of games qualify as "great" for different reasons... rank ordering them is a disservice to all of them that are worthy of high praise.

LilRommel

21st Feb 08, 3:18 PM

How about BlasterMaster from the NES days!.
I played the pooo out of that game. you could hit pause when you were damaging a boss and it would continue to hurt him so when you unpaused teh game a minute later he was dead.

Oh and his car was awesome.

Flagg

21st Feb 08, 4:40 PM

There have not been great games after the N64 died. All games during that time and before were far better than any games that came after.

Secret of Mana and FF7, these are easily in my opinion the best RPG's i've ever played to date.

Street Fighter II. Never before has there been such a competitive fighting game that spawned a thousand spinoffs and gathered such a massive fan base. Original characters and an inovotive fighting system.

DOOM series. BEST fps STILL today. These games genuinely gave me a chill to play. So atmospheric and over the top. Loved the storyline. Even DOOM 64 rocked.

Golden Eye and Perfect Dark. RARE at their best, both these games had an awesome multiplayer game.

Mariokart. I think at the time, when it came out, despite being a Nintendo "kart game", was considered by many to be the best racer at the time?

Dungeon Keeper. I think it was the first time id played a God game/RTS, discluding SIMCITY, but so much fun! Loved the black sense of humour that went with this and the narration.

Other worthy mentions should be Mario 64, Tekken 2, QUAKE 1 and 3 and the Resident Evil series.

If I had to absolutely pick one game out of all that as greatest game of all time, I think i'd have to go for Street Fighter II and beyond.

roflmao

21st Feb 08, 4:46 PM

Not the best, but the one that brings the most memorable memories instantly is Midtown Madness 3.

Crazy physics engine in the game allowed for all kinds of madness and hilarity in multiplayer, it worked because it failed miserably.

Blade44

21st Feb 08, 5:00 PM

Gonna have to go with duke nukem 3d as well. I still have the killaton collection and maybe its a bit of nostalgia talking or the way you had to time it just right to get all of your friends into a lan game, but i love that game, and still play it occasionally. Nothing compares to its classic charm for me.

Vakarian

21st Feb 08, 5:17 PM

I presume we are allowed to choose modern games?

Because the best game i have ever played was released last year.

Shuma

21st Feb 08, 5:21 PM

Super Metroid. Need i say more? it's Metroid and it's Super. And the best 2d adenture game to date.

Zir

21st Feb 08, 5:25 PM

Need i say more?

YEEEESSS. YOU DO NEED.

Same goes for everyone else who threw that cliche out.

Shuma

21st Feb 08, 5:34 PM

Ok, i've always Found Super Metroid to be one of the best games i've ever played, of course back then i just though "OMG this game is the shit". But it has a nice storyline, amazing graphics for it's time. And the gameplay was awesome.

You could even combine beams, you can't do this in the new Metroid games, why? i dunno. Still, it was awesome back then, and Samus could do a bunch of special moves, like that one where she used a Power bomb to regenerate life.

She could moonwalk. MOONWALK. The boss fights where awesome, and you had to find the weakpoint, now the bosses just require you to shoot them a lot. Back then you had to figure HOW to kill the boss. And the ending, the ending was awesome, with the Metroid saving your life. And then, the world explosion.

Grenademan

21st Feb 08, 6:02 PM

Ah crap, I forgot all about Unreal Tournament! Shame on me! I've been playing UT since the demo first came out nearly ten years ago. I've never unisntalled it, always played it at least once a week...I guess it really is the best game I've ever played.

The bots...they were and probably are the best AI system ever incorporated into a game. Intelligent and challenging, plus the ability to customise each bot yourself gave them their own personalities.

Not to mention the map editor (once you get to know it) is a fine piece of work. I've pumped out hundreds of maps, but only about a dozen of them are actually on a professional level of design.

The gameplay is absolutely awesome and addictive, I never get bored of it. Plus the amount of customisation the game has is pretty nifty. I usually have about 8 mutators on for every match. The blood, the guts and the glory is just awesome. Never have I had such a surge of adrenaline upon slaying four enemy bots with a chainsaw in under thirty seconds.

SchizoBadger

21st Feb 08, 6:13 PM

I would say C&C Red Alert, I spent hours and hours over at a friend's house just building walls and tesla coils. It was the first and one of the only times I got so into a game that the real world didn't even exist.

Atreides

21st Feb 08, 6:15 PM

Star Fleet Academy, this was in my pre internet days and I was a HUGE Star Trek geek, so I loved all the bits of detail like the library computer, going red alert and seeing the red alert sign animation, blowing nacelles off ships. Tractoring a cloaked Klingon or Romulan ship and pounding the crap out of it, beating the Kobayashi Maru.

I had no cheat codes and had to figure the whole game out without so much as a game manual (bought it at a garage sale for $5), I played and replayed the thing over and over and ended it in every way there was. Yeah on looking back the game was lackluster but it caught my fancy.

Then I saw a game in the bargain bin named Homeworld, saw space ships and thought I would give it a try...

/me cues the epic music

Croaxleigh

21st Feb 08, 6:26 PM

Final Fantasy III for the SNES (or FFVI, if you prefer that numbering... either way, it's the one before VII came out and Square gutted the series) or Chrono Trigger... still can't choose between them. Also, Bubble Bobble (which I recently picked up on the Virtual Console.)

Zir

21st Feb 08, 8:47 PM

Square gutted the series

Widespread critical and public opinion would call that veeerry subjective. If VII was the result of a gutting, I'd hate to think what you'd have to say about it if they truly had created a horrible game.

TheDividedGod

21st Feb 08, 11:59 PM

Hmm.

"Best".

Quite a bit different from "favourite". Definitely not to do with popularity either, though that helps. Better than "good" - the Best, in fact.

But, really, I like Zerotwo's answer quite a bit - it implies that to properly answer this question, I'd have to first acknowledge the entire definition of "game" and thus include strange cultural and socio-political phenomena, and look at things from a less limited frame of reference (computer/video games only).

I'd also say that highschool itself however, was more of a metagame, with countless little first-order narratives operating co-dependently within. To acknowledge one was to acknowledge them all implicitly, but it seemed to me that a lot of what amounted to political power in highschool was based on one's ability to manipulate as many variables as possible in as many narratives (mini-games) as possible without showing your influence explicitly (ie. without anyone else knowing.)

The metaphor would be more akin to a card game than a computer game I suppose...but then again, no metaphor is really required at all....it (highschool) fits the definition quite cleanly already.

BlackOmne

22nd Feb 08, 6:33 AM

hmmm... so many great ones in the past...

But, I would have to say XCom tops the list. I have never been as obsessed with a game as that and neither have I lost as much sleep playing a game since XCom. I still get tempted to fire it up occassionally.

Baldur's Gate 2 (and it's expansion) comes in second. I easily spent over a year of my gaming time playing it and the expansion multiple times.

Far Cry and UT (series) play a close third. Crysis is proving, so far (haven't finished yet), to be as good or better than Far Cry.

ShivaArchon

22nd Feb 08, 10:25 AM

Shuma beat me to it I'm afraid, but I have to echo Super Metroid. Zebes is a vast world to explore, with dozens of very well hidden items and powerups. The bosses were huge and, at the time, were tough and intimidating. In addition to the core gameplay, Samus had several moves that weren't required to beat the game but added immensely to your ability to explore beyond where you were "supposed" to go, e.g. wall jump, shinespark, and bomb jumping. Doing them skillfully took a bit of practice but is so rewarding when you pick up powerups WAY before the usual progression lets you.

nige22

22nd Feb 08, 4:34 PM

Wild Cup Soccer on my old Amiga 500, because what's the point of playing computer games as a child if it doesn't involve utterly nonsensical random violence?

Zwebbie

22nd Feb 08, 4:52 PM

Deus Ex, no doubt. There's pretty much always new stuff to find in that game, and it's amazing how far you can go beyond what the developers themselves thought of. Myself, I managed to play without killing anyone through most of the game (and would've beaten it that way if it wasn't the hundredth time I played it :) ) and someone managed to beat it without using a single item or weapon.

Arcanum, Portal and Company of Heroes are competing for the second place.

Croaxleigh

22nd Feb 08, 5:06 PM

Widespread critical and public opinion would call that veeerry subjective. If VII was the result of a gutting, I'd hate to think what you'd have to say about it if they truly had created a horrible game.
No, that came later in the series. *laughs*

snrjefe

22nd Feb 08, 5:14 PM

Tie Fighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_TIE_Fighter)

Hands down. X-Wing a distant second.

Never have I replayed a game or even individual missions so many times. In fact, I pine for it to this day. Stupid XP and Vista platforms. A pox on you for not working properly with my old LucasArts games.

SubZero

22nd Feb 08, 5:31 PM

I think back over the years, and each game has mostly left an impression...

DukeNukem3D was the game that ruined my life, and got my into PC Online games.
C&C:RA got me into RTS games.
XCOM:UFO was the best TBS i've played, with Chaos Gate a close second.
Before all of those however, the Dizzy games (you must surely remember Dizzy, right?) and Street Fighter II on the Amiga. My first proper game that I must have spent ages on was a toss up between (Oh No, more)Lemmings and Bart Simpson versus the Space Mutants.

I cannot seriously give a definite answer here, and modern games don't scratch the surface on these trend-setting games of the distant past.

Soldier

22nd Feb 08, 5:44 PM

Knights of the Old Republic, Company of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies Pre-CU, Final Fantasy VII, Counter-Strike Source, Fallout.

That's my list, and I don't think I'd be able to choose just one. Especially when you consider most of these games are in seperate genres.

Jianaran

22nd Feb 08, 6:36 PM

Homeworld.
No other game has come even close to being so powerful, so emotional, so enveloping. Playing through the campaign was the ultimate escapist experience, it took you to another place and time and left you there. In other games you could laugh as your ships died, but in HW every frigate lost was a tragedy, every cryo-tray an utter calamity.
Behind that it would have to be CoH, for the same reasons but to a far lesser extent.

Luwinkle

22nd Feb 08, 10:59 PM

The game that consumed most of my life on consoles would have to be Road Rash 3 for Genesis.

Ohhhh yeeaaahh.

Whut

22nd Feb 08, 11:32 PM

NES ; The legend of Zelda - the original. if that can capture the attention of an add kid then it must be good. I play it on my gameboy even now.

PC; ... hrm, tough choice lots of games are up there... Heroes of Might and Magic series? Half-life 1&2. counterstrike and cs source. day of defeat... (and source) Knights of the old Republic and yeah - dawn of war too..

Hrm okay final decision: Day Of Defeat Ive had so many good times playing this and ive been playing it since the beta. Its a game where even when im getting my arse handed to me im still having fun playing it. I play it even now.
Source is okay, though not as good.
:twocents:

Akranadas

22nd Feb 08, 11:57 PM

For me, the best game ever would have to be Red Alert 2. The games before it in the Command and Conquer series may have brought me to the RTS genre, but it was Red Alert 2 that kept me loving RTS games.

From 2000 to 2005 it was almost all I played for my RTS fix (including Yuri's Revenge). It had a great single player campaign that I've probably replayed almost 10 times for each side and as well as extensive play in the multiplayer side of things. So much so that during high school we used to have RA2 LAN sessions during spare classes in the computer lab, even the teacher would join in; It was just great.

Other contenders were Zelda: Ocarina of Time because of it's great gameplay and story. Halo (and various sequels) was also a great game that I've played through numerous times. And of course Knights of the Old Republic and Oblivion both RPGs I have played through heaps and still haven't had the same style of game that I did when I first played through it.

Imperial Dane

23rd Feb 08, 12:53 AM

Best game ever played ? I have absolutely no idea, all the great games i've played where great in their own way, saying one is better would for me imply that the others weren't that great.

I mean there is warcraft 3 and the frozen throne, the games where i've played through the campaigns the most times.

But then there is DoW + expansions, where i have played through the campaigns again and again, and even several years after, i can do it again, and i'm probably going to do it again just before soulstorm.

Then there is half-life and opposing forces. Great games that were fun and actually quite interesting FPS games with a story and actually giving you people to fight along side with.. although for short periods of time.

There is half-life 2, fantastic and constantly changing in pace during the single player part.. sadly my computer can't run it now :(

And there is company of heroes and opposing fronts, which, while not having as great a single player part as the other games, is one of the few to actually make me bother playing online and having fun :)

and there are many other games which i consider great and fantastic games.. but i just can't single one out.

Ghostly_Gecko

23rd Feb 08, 1:05 AM

Wow, this is such a painful question. I can't possibly compare vastly different games, but I can name a few in different genres. ;p

Portable: Ouendan/Ouendan 2/Elite Beat Agents (DS) --- Yeah, yeah, portable gaming, ha ha, those crazy Japanese, etc; you can laugh, but this is an awesome game. It's for the DS, and the most brilliant use of the touchscreen so far. A song plays in the background, and you click, drag, and spin 'beats' on the screen in time. Don't think DDR; it wouldn't be fair :rofl: . It's hard, yet never frustrating. Who can feel frustrated when there are cheerleaders dancing on the screen while you listen to strange J-Pop and violate your DS screen? (Video; sorry about the quality, hard to find someone who did a decent one without using the replay mode. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM-_5uoFSko) )

Strategy: Red Alert 2/Dungeon Keeper 2/Heroes 3: THe Shadow of Death/Company of Heroes --- I can't believe that I feel that CoH deserves to be with those games. RA2 has already been explained ( ;) ), but I doubt many recognize Dungeon Keeper 2. Playing the evil overlord in a dungeon, whipping your imps, and then possessing them to run around in a motion-sickness blur? Sign me up. RA2 for it's sheer fun-factor, DK2 for originality, and CoH for absolutely amazing gameplay. Heroes 3 is still the best turn-based strategy game I've played (it's too bad that 4 and 5 were so off-base).

RPG: Planescape: Torment/Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn/Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic --- First off, I hated Oblivion. Without mods, with mods, with fries, I couldn't believe how unenjoyable I found the game to be. Oh well. P:T still has the best story I've heard (and I've played Dreamfall), and BG2 had a crazy level of complexity and customization. And it had a manual about 2 or 3 times as big as the WoW one. That's epic. SW:KotOR was so open-ended and enjoyable that it deserved this, even if it was plagued by some mind-boggling issues... (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY CAN'T I LOOK UP?)

FPS (originality/fun factor): No One Lives Forever --- If you haven't played this yet, you're missing out. If I had to pick only one game to play for the rest of my life, this would definitely be on the short list, maybe even my pick. It's set in the 60's (GO GO DANCE POWER), and you play a female, British spy. It's tongue-in-cheek, cheesy, and incredibly hilarious. And the gameplay is a lot of fun as well. Get it from Ebay for something like $10.

FPS (concept): Max Payne --- Matrix-style effects done better than in any Matrix game (and in a third-person shooter, to boot). A dark and brooding storyline filled with surprisingly well-narrated lines, and plenty of self-satirical humor. Oh, and the entire story happens in comic strips. Cutscenes are boring; more of THIS. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJPUb9EydK0)

FPS (gameplay): Unreal Tournament '99 --- When I get bored of my fancy shooters with physics, and nice graphics, and awesome effects, I turn to this. A game that transcends the meaning of 'replay value.' The AI is brilliant; and it's almost a decade old, too :D . UT is just too awesome to not be on everyone's short list for best FPS.

Honorable mentions for games (because there are just so many...): Call of Duty (1, 2, and 4), Crysis, MechWarrior (2 & 4), GTA (1, London, and 2), Worms (series) and probably many other games that I can't remember. I named pretty much PC games because they're near me right now, and I can actually remember them.

SmellyTerror

23rd Feb 08, 1:50 AM

The game I played the most: WoW

The games I replayed the most: Civ2 / MOO2 (tied)

The game I dreamed about the most: Jumpgate

The game I was most in awe of: Homeworld

The game I loved the most: X-Wing

Very honorable mentions: Total Annihilation*, Crash Bandicoot, Wipeout, Company of Heroes*, Prince of Persia SoT, Carmageddon*, Blast Chamber*, Starcraft*, Dawn of War*, Conquest: FW, Half Life (both), Quake CTF*, Duke3D*, Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament*, Tribes*, Decent Freespace, Starflight, Project Firestart, XCom (all of 'em), Laser Squad Nemesis*, Finest Hour, Max Payne.

*: dependant on being multiplayer.

Jianaran

23rd Feb 08, 3:11 AM

Ghostly_Ghecko: try Osu (osu.ppy.sh). I think you'd like it.

Stripe7

23rd Feb 08, 3:15 AM

Homeworld. It was the first space warfare game that really got me into playing PvP.

Falcon-

23rd Feb 08, 3:55 AM

Shattered Galaxy. The development cycle caused this game to change rapidly for about 2 years. Besides that, I still love the concept.

Kapp'n

23rd Feb 08, 4:43 AM

Best game ever... Again it is very tough but im stuck between two; Super Smash Bros and Sonic Jam. Super Smash Bros because the first time i played it i fell in love with it and have always been a keen fan of the series since. As for sonic jam, it contains all the best sonic games (1,2,3) and others all on one disk. Personally i preferd sonic to mario in the 2d era and sonic jam was probabily the first game i ever played. That was the game that got me into gaming.

Zir

23rd Feb 08, 8:06 AM

Wow, this is such a painful question. I Oh well. P:T still has the best story I've heard (and I've played Dreamfall)

Does this mean you haven't played The Longest Journey, the game that Dreamfall is the sequel of? Heretic!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY CAN'T I LOOK UP?

There is nothing in the sky you would need or want to see. Creating complex and resource wasting skyboxes just to randomly look up at when bored seems like a waste of time to me.

No One Lives Forever

Best FPS EVER. Such great fun. Good/hilarious story, great/hilarious characters, and surprisingly, extremely good gameplay and technical aspect. It's also really, really long, with constantly varying locations. Basically it's like Austin Powers, only with the "WTF" and gross-out humour being replaced with pure wit and cleverness. The same company (Monolith) went on to make FEAR.

Ghostly_Gecko

23rd Feb 08, 8:58 PM

Heh, I believe I got mixed up there. I'm not good with titles. I HAVE played The Longest Journey, but couldn't (and can't) get Dreamfall to work on Vista. :crash:

FINALLY, someone else who's played NOLF. Such an under-rated game, and with such a disappointing sequel (I can't begin to imagine what compelled the designers to change Cate into a more stereotypical character).

I still play through it every once in a while. The humor never gets old. :D

BananaMaster

23rd Feb 08, 9:39 PM

Best FPS EVER. Such great fun. Good/hilarious story, great/hilarious characters, and surprisingly, extremely good gameplay and technical aspect. It's also really, really long, with constantly varying locations. Basically it's like Austin Powers, only with the "WTF" and gross-out humour being replaced with pure wit and cleverness. The same company (Monolith) went on to make FEAR.

Capa, I think "you look like you need a monkey." :lol:

The best memories that I've ever had period with pc gaming was Freespace 2. Despite a cliffhanger ending, you had distinct characters like Admiral Bosch, Petrarch, and commander Snipes [a.k.a., mr. DIVE DIVE DIVE!; shit that freaked me out], all wrapped around an exciting universe and plot. Best of all, it was a space flight simulator worthy of many hours wasted on killing pesky neo-terrans and menacing Shivan ships-of-death from the original game. It's one of the few games that you'll at least play it twice, just for the fun and thrill of using a uber space fighter that resembles a chicken. :salute:

naradaman

24th Feb 08, 2:57 AM

And of course Knights of the Old Republic and Oblivion both RPGs I have played through heaps and still haven't had the same style of game that I did when I first played through it.Have you ever play Morrowind? I think if you think Oblivion was great, you'll absolutely love Morrowind. Boy I love that game. Apart from those damn cliff racers! Oh yeah, look up the boots of blinding speed before you go too far.

Also, if you were into KotOR, I can't recommend Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 more, boths games you can play in many different ways.

Chip

25th Feb 08, 8:49 AM

I still play Duke Nukem 3D atomic and the classic Doom series but through new modern ports (Eduke32 for Duke3D and Jdoom for Doom)

I'm very close to the Duke Nukem 3D as that was my first ever full PC game I owned and this was back when I was like 8?
I did start making conversions and modds to the game but I lost time due to full time work and so I don't mod the game anymore but my biggest one I did was a unreleased Duke vs Doom which combinded my love of Doom and Duke into 1 game (yes a mod like this had been made before but mine was better as it took advantage of the new Eduke32 commands + I had the UAC marines on your side who would go around and kill the Daemons with you. :D )

Gerfervonbob

25th Feb 08, 10:13 AM

Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, I played that game so much. I love the atmosphere it brings and the variety of missions. Good times

Close Second: Medieval Total War

Psymon

25th Feb 08, 10:28 AM

Ugh, so hard to choose.

Mechwarrior 2 is definately up there, I loved blowing the legs off things way back when. Star Control 2 was truly epic, a lot of fun and funny to boot. Portal, while short, had deliciously dark humour. And there's Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, a game made of distilled awesome and win.

So probably one of those four.

Ammon Ra

25th Feb 08, 10:50 AM

Tough question.
The game i played the most, ever, is probably Total annihilation or Counterstrike. High school, semi-addiction to counterstrike, and total annihilation just had huge amounts of replayability and allowed for crazy insane inefficient strategies :D Like air-lifting the suicide kbots into enemy bases.

The game that provided the most entertainment/fun is Populous:The beginning. No game has ever put such a huge grin on my face for so long, and i play through it again every 10-16 months.

So I guess the best game i've ever played has to be Half-life. This is a compromise because there are other games, like the ones listed above, that have taken up lots of my time, or entertained me

Demon_Eyes

25th Feb 08, 12:18 PM

Day of Defeat, Beta (not Source, before they nixed the wobble in the sights):
Great balance on the standard maps, classes well balanced and limited in a good way, medium paced with plenty of action and great fire fights, could get very tactical or just charge the flanks. What made int #1 for me was the accessiblity, I could jump on and have some fun in a short amount of time or play a long amount of time and not feel bogged down with glaring issues (like toekills/nadespam/etc) or could jump on with friends and get very strategic.

AnyKey

25th Feb 08, 3:03 PM

Sonic the Hedgehog!!!!

Senn

25th Feb 08, 3:59 PM

1.StarSiege

It's a mech game, for those who don't know. And a damn good one, at that. It was the first game I played online, and I got to know a good number of the guys who were on all the time, so I could always get something going (I also had cable internet, which was uncommon back then, so people loved me for my 1337 game pings when I hosted :P). The online community for this game was one of the best to be apart of. Single player campaign was also top notch (Mark Hamil did the voice of several of the characters).

2.Homeworld

An absolute given. The second game I played online. The single player campaign remains one of the greatest examples of a truly fantastic cinematic gaming experience. I also got my first real dose of being in a clan (I'm still in the Kiith Soban clan, which I've been a member of for almost 6 years now). This game also had a fantastic online community.

3.Jedi Outcast

Lightsaber combat in this game was loads of fun. Played this one online quite a bit, and I made a habit of frequenting the same servers, so the other guys that frequented the same servers and myself got along pretty well. Online community wasn't as good as the previous two as a whole, but as long as I limited myself to the same servers, all was well.

4.Diablo 2

I played this one with a bunch of my friends. Addicting as all hell. It felt good to be able to call some buds up and say "Hey, log your ass on!" and have full Baal runs going within 5 minutes. And it was hella fun have 4 level 94+ chars :P I actually might start it up again with some friends.

5.RA2:Yuri's Revenge

Also played this one with a bunch of my friends. This was pretty much my after school activity in 8th grade (well, this and Homeworld). Had some fun LAN parties in this one.

I tend to rate games by how much I like the player interaction. What can I say? I'm a social guy :P That's why I have a dead heat between StarSiege and Homeworld as my favorite all-time gaming experience.

LilRommel

25th Feb 08, 5:39 PM

ahhh yes diablo 2, left click left click left click left click left click.

I left clicked for tons of hours also.

Zir

25th Feb 08, 7:08 PM

It's definitely the epitome of that gaming sin, where in actuality you're not doing anything, you're on a slideshow that progresses by you clicking and from time to time picking some new graphics to come out of your clicks. Click click click click click...hey, I found a sword! I can click some more with it! It's an illusion. Clever though.

Quaetam

29th Feb 08, 2:52 PM

Civilization four, Homeworld, C&C Zero Hour and C&C tiberium wars have to be four of them. Then there's starcraft...

Atze

1st Mar 08, 2:58 AM

Two mentioned it before, I'll do it again: Super Metroid
Every time I get my trustworthy SNES out of the shelf I marvel at the almost perfect gameplay, the nightmarish mood of the game, the way the music and - yes - the graphics add to the experience.

I really do like the Prime titles of the Metroid series, but they've lost some of the flair, you don't feel all alone anymore, there are not as many secrets to be discovered. And there are no more of these unique shock effects;
I remember battling Crocomire for the first time, I was so relieved when it finally (seemed) to drown and disintegrate in the acid pool... I didn't notice the bubbles underneath when I was proceeding. Being attacked a last time by its skeleton all of a sudden almost gave me a heart attack. And there were plenty of these moments. Fearsome, awe inspiring.
I could go on like that forever and wonder why today 99% of the games aren't able to create such a flair - when it was possible on an old 16bit console, it should be easily achievable in the era of surround sound and almost photorealistic 3D graphics, but I'm proved wrong again and again.

Close second:
The Legend Of Zelda - A Link To The Past

And always saturating my need for cars:
Gran Turismo Series

ShivaArchon

1st Mar 08, 10:26 AM

The Metroid Prime titles are definitely top-notch, with Prime 1 being the king of them (Prime 2 is very close to it). Prime 1 especially did a great job of capturing all of the atmosphere of Super Metroid, but there just weren't as many well-hidden secrets. Super Metroid had whole areas with unique creatures and powerups that could easily be missed, particularly in Maridia. Like I mentioned before, Samus was much more mobile in Super and could do a lot of things she couldn't in the 3D world of Prime, like wall jumping. Those couple of things keep it at the pinnacle.

Interesting how everyone I know that loves Metroid games also picks Zelda games as their favorites. Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess are both consistently in my top 5 along with Super Metroid. Item-based "leveling", free roaming exploration of a huge world, discovering secrets, and big tough boss battles.

SeniorDingDong

1st Mar 08, 10:50 AM

I also think Metroid Prime is superior over Prime 2 in level design, music and gameplay "flow" (this Dark/Light theme... "slowed" the game and made it visualy boring and less enjoyable levels like Phendrana or Magmoor in P1). There are also some little things like : the pirates are cooler in P1, the weapons in P2 are just reskinned ones = lame and the thing dark beam good in light world and light good in dark world is boring, the new visors are strange, there are too much morphball sequences etc...

I dislike to compare it with a decade older 2D game. I rather check Super Metroid against Metroid Fusion or Zero Mission. And ofcourse SM wins.

And yes, I am also a Zelda fan. And I also dont battle 2D vs 3D. So in my eyes, you can check my older post, Links Awakening rules supreme and for the 3D ones - I did not play TW yet :(. Until now, I think Majoras Mask is slidly better then OoT and TWW. Because its "uniqueness" (no Ganon, no Triforce, no Zelda herself) pleasures me more.

But I just rebought a Gamecube, because I missed Metroid Prime so much ^^ and I now can buy a used TW and test it. (and other great cube games like F-Zero GX ... )

rubeo990

1st Mar 08, 11:25 AM

Diablo 2. Played it for 3 or 4 years religiously. Love it still, occasionally pick it up and get a couple level 40 characters going.

Zir

1st Mar 08, 12:43 PM

While I love the Prime games, and have loved the Zelda games all my life, I don't love the Zelda games anymore. OoT and Majoras Mask were genius, but now playing them gets tedious. There just isn't any atmosphere or detail in the setting. It has soul, but no life, it's a vapid, generic world of grass, trees and elves. I'm not a kid anymore so I need more than solid, well crafted gameplay to keep my mind busy. I want fluff and intrigue. They can't get away with telling the same story in the same world again and again anymore unless what they want is to keep their fanbase perpetually consisting of pre-16 kids.

I just dug out a classic that I'd regard as one of my favourite games ever. Jagged Alliance 2. It's the only game I've played where guns feel and sound like guns, and firefights or the entire game in general play out in a deliberate and measured way, like they do in real life, as opposed to people spraying bullets around like crazy and them acting like polystyrene balls when they hit people.

Dimension

1st Mar 08, 1:57 PM

Homeworld. nothing ever felt as epic as the single player. some scenes got me close to tears.

At this point, I don't even play it anymore for fear of spoiling the memories. It was so awesome. SO awesome.

stopgap

2nd Mar 08, 7:47 PM

(original post) im not thinking about this to much, but one of my favorite ever was Free Space 2, I still remember the Epic engagement with the Sathanas, but what is truly chilling is what happens after... that was incredible (not going to tell as i dont know the spoiler command).

ok... ive been reading this thread, and ill be honest, i have a warn happy feeling remembering all the games i had forgotten, i will no longer make a short trite answer. games i loved

sonic the hedgehog, and mario... i sucked at those games, still do... never could do well at them, but they were some of my first experiences.

Wolfenstein: this was the first shooter i ever played, and i still remember hunching over the keyboard late at night at a friends house.

Raptor:call off the shadows, best game EVER... i wanted to play this game so much i even shelled out about 100 dollars to get 2 megabytes of ram to upgrade the 286... (it was all the money i had in the world... and it still didnt work, a heartbreaking experience, i still like the game).

Red Alert was my first experience with the C&C series, and i loved it, all following games of the series have seemed somehow cheap and shallow in comparison.

Tie Fighter: Ties with Freespace two for best space simulator ever. i have spent many happy hours on the game, but cant play it anymore. :(

I could keep going but games i have enjoyed over the years, in short are: Homeworld (long happy story with memories), homeworld two, Knights of the old republic, counterstrike, half-life two, smash brothers, all mechwarrior games, EVER, Dawn of War, COH (incredible game), witcher (need better comp), warcraft 3 & exp, STARCRAFT, Sins of a Solar empire (buy it, you wont regret it, forums are at times mature even) :P
and many things on the horizon.

I have had some truly moving times playing video games, and its a delight to share the joy with fellow gamers.

GJTFM

2nd Mar 08, 8:22 PM

Metroid Prime. Thats the reason, why I bought a damn Gamecube. This game, made the perfect 2D to 3D leap. Visuals, music, design, gameplay, controlls, content, worlds, enemies, bossfights, combat, explore ... it has the whole package of epic-game-greatness like Super Metroid had before.

This.

Hodgeh MkII

2nd Mar 08, 8:48 PM

I was hooked on Starcraft, the game that got me into gaming, for a while, solid RTS back in the day.

rts - Blitzkrieg 1 and 2, WW2 tactical rts games

rpg - Baldur's Gate 2 was epic.

FPS - "Firearms", a mod for Half Life 1, a very deep team based shooter, soo much fun, many, many hours

Team Fortress 2 - hilarious, many great laughs playing, solid balance, fun maps
PS2 - Red Faction 2 (fps shooter)

craNk

3rd Mar 08, 2:54 AM

Can't say just one... so i do some Categorys:

PC
Multiplayer:

Starcraft
Half Life 1 Deathmatch

Single Player:
Baldurs Gate 2
Planescape Torment
Half Life 2 (im no Egoshooter fan, in no way, but this was just great).

Console
Singleplayer
Goldeneye 64
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)

Multiplayer:
Tekken 3 and up.
Super Mario Kart (SNES)

DougyM

3rd Mar 08, 3:06 AM

Battlefield 1942 + Mod(s)

I got cable in late 2002 (1/2th mb 4tw) and i was in PC world in glasgow one day and i was randomly looking at online games.

Bf1942 sort of stuck out for me, i became hooked instantly. Though my pitiful geforce 2 could only manage 24 players maximum.

Over the next 2-6 months i upgraded my machine gradualy and finaly got on 64 player servers with steady frame rates. I litteraly spent days playing that game and i eagerly bought all the expansions (and loved them).

But it was the mod Desert Combat that realy got me hooked. I waited with baited breath for any news on what the latest version would bring... new guns, tanks, planes, maps etc.

One match alone sums up why i love that series more than any other...

Gazala, I joined the Opposition team as a special operations soldier, im flying around in a MiG strafing the Coalition runway when the Ac130 gunship spawns and a good dozen or so Coalition players run into it and take off. I follow it closely and i wait for them to open the back doors to drop off para troops.

The door opens and i start blazing away with my machine gun and get a good few kills (Coal can spawn inside the plane as well). After a few seconds of killing i get buzzed by a F16 and my MiG is basicly screwed if i get hit again.

Its at this point that i entered "the zone".

I flew ahead of the AC130 and parachuted, the AC pilot sees me and tries to ram me in mid air, i end up actualy parachuting ontop of the plane and im perfectly ok.

I drop all of my C4 onto the roof of the plane, i run and jump off the end of it and parachute down onto a villa roof, turn and click my detonator.

8 kills 7 players also die from being chucked out of the falling wreck.

I was so smug after that i didnt notice the jet come back round and cut me in half with its MG.